High-consumption GPL consumers being disconnected from grid during peak hours

…Govt had to choose between 30,000 households and 20 self -generating entities – VP

Large consumers of electricity, who each have a power-generating capacity, are daily being removed from the Guyana Power and Light grid during the period 18:00h to 22:00h in order to prevent widespread service disruption for the population.
The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) has taken this move after recording an unprecedented peak demand of approximately 182 megawatts, which has presented a challenge in light of current generation capacity.
Initially, large industrial customers with self-generating capacities were asked to produce their own power during peak demand hours. However, only a small percentage responded positively.
“This is a temporary but necessary measure for the company, to prevent service disruptions,” GPL shared.
On Thursday, Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo explained during his press conference that, at this point in time, the demand exceeds the capacity to supply. This increase came about due to expansion of businesses, increased housing development, and more recently the heatwave, which has prompted consumers to use air conditioners and other cooling devices.

‘Biggest worry’
However, the ‘biggest worry’ is large consumers flooding the grid. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Government had moved the excise tax on fuel from 50 percent down to zero percent in a bid to combat increasing global prices for oil and the impact those increases were having on the local economy. As such, self-generation became more expensive, and many companies opted to use the GPL supply to capitalise on the subsidised costs.
“A lot of people who were privately generating power have decided to switch to GPL…It made sense for a lot of people who are self-generating to turn off their generators and come on to the GPL grid, including the big users. They have flooded over to the grid because they are getting subsidised electricity from the grid. That has pushed up the demand,” Jagdeo outlined.
The VP added that, upon examination, it would inconvenience some 28,000 to 30,000 people in order to keep these establishments on the grid at peak hours. It made more sense, he added, for the self-generating establishments to utilise their generators instead.
“A lot of them didn’t want to come off…We said we will add a premium tariff so it forces you off, since you would have to pay more. But we heard that some of them are still not coming off because they are passing the cost off to their consumers. So, GPL has decided to take them off. The alternative is that, should we discomfort 15 or 20 businesses who are using large amounts of power and can self-generate…or should we discomfort 30,000 people?”

Additional megawatts
The Vice President has stated that these businesses are still benefitting from the system, through subsidised electricity costs for 20 hours per day. Government will be buying an additional 30 megawatts of electricity, which will be added to the grid by December.
“That will be able to supply everyone back. You don’t have to come off in the peak hours, and we said that once the gas-to-energy project comes on stream, that is 300 megawatts,” Jagdeo reasoned.
By 2025, with 300MW of new baseload capacity provided by natural gas, the reliability of the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS) grid would be increased, while greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with electricity generation would be reduced by half.
The plant aims to reduce the cost of energy by at least 50 per cent through an energy mix, thereby potentially saving Guyana US$150 million on power generation annually. Through the turbines used at the plant, 300MW of energy would be generated, which is double the amount that GPL currently provides.
In June, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo had announced that there was active interest from Brazil to bring the Amaila Falls project to life, after it was hindered when the China Railway First Group (CRFG), the company that won the contract, had informed the Government of its difficulties in meeting the contractual obligations.
This project will be based on a Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) model, wherein the company would supply electricity to GPL Inc at a cost not exceeding US$0.07737 per kWh, and wherein the company would provide the entire equity required for the project and undertake all the risks associated with the project.
Meanwhile, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) had approved the use of US$83.8 million, earned from Norway to keep Guyana’s rainforests intact, for the construction of eight solar farms that aim to add renewable energy sources to Guyana’s grid. (G12)